Employees want tech to boost business productivity, not to monitor performance

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, workers want technology that helps them become more efficient rather than helping their bosses snoop on them, a new business report shows.

Over half of employees (53%) are prepared to use technology like wearables to boost their own productivity at work. However, three quarters (74%) said no to wearables being used by employers to monitor performance.

These are the findings of TalkTalk Business’ Workforces 2025 report which combines insights from YouGov research and expertise from respected futurist Graeme Codrington. The report highlights that businesses are not doing enough to encourage technology uptake by employees and deliver the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

That said, there are some encouraging signs of uptake towards new working technologies. Over one third (38%) of employees expect to see virtual reality in staff training rooms within the next 10 years.

A third (33%) also expect to regularly switch between working remotely and in an office, while a quarter (26%) believe that offices in the future will mainly be used for meeting and collaboration and not for general work or administration functions.

The report concludes that businesses should be prepared to experiment and fail small, often and quickly in order to learn and succeed with new technologies, and keep both current and future employees engaged.

Graeme Codrington, Futurist to TalkTalk Business says:

“Clearly there is an appetite amongst employees for using new technologies like VR and wearables to improve productivity, but this doesn’t mean business managers can make these decisions in isolation. Employees also need to be engaged with all aspects of new workplace technologies to make them a success, otherwise they won’t use them to full capacity or worse, find ways to circumvent them completely.”

There is also concern amongst employees that the advent of future working technologies like AI, machine learning and automation will impact on salaries and collaboration. Over a quarter of workers (27%) believe their salaries will come down as a direct result of the arrival of AI, robotics and other technologies into the workplace, while almost a quarter (24%)believe they will lead to less collaboration with colleagues.

Codrington concludes:
“For example, projects should be trialled with select employees in a targeted manner rather than looking for 100% proof of concept and 100% ROI (Return on Investment).

“This also needs to go beyond the IT department – change and innovation has to be injected through the company culture, with all employees feeling that they can bring ideas and innovations to the company table.”

Chris has been a journalist since the 1990s. In addition to editing TechDigest.tv and ShinyShiny.tv, he also regularly contributes tech/business articles to The Daily Telegraph and Tech Radar. A passionate swimmer, Chris has his own swimming blog and is a qualified lifeguard. He can be contacted at chris@chrisprice.net